County buys voting machines

Officials speculate they will get little use.

Officials speculate they will get little use.

December 24, 2005|JAMES WENSITS Tribune Political Writer

SOUTH BEND -- A million dollars worth of new voting machines will be available to handicapped and disabled voters next year, but some county officials don't think they'll get much use. Richard Hunt, an adviser to the county Election Board, said he doesn't look for more than 300 votes to be cast on the new machines, and thinks even that figure may be high. Hunt said he believes many voters with disabilities will continue their practice of voting by absentee ballot. "He's guessing two votes per polling location," County Commissioner Mark Dobson said when told of Hunt's comment. "He's not far off." Dobson speculated that some of the new voting machines may go unused, particularly in places where voters with disabilities live far from the polling place. The Help America Vote Act "says we have to have it," Dobson said. "We didn't have a choice in this." According to Dobson, the HAVA requirement that every polling place have a handicap-accessible machine "took business common sense out of the equation and made it a requirement that every polling place have one." County Commissioner Steve Ross, D-District 2, also speculated that the new machines won't get that much use because, "there's not that great a need for them." Needed or not, here they come. After months of deliberation, the commissioners agreed Thursday to buy 190 Automark voting machines that can be used by those who are blind or have other disabilities. The Automarks, which will cost just more than $1 million, are being purchased to meet the requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act, which requires that each polling place be equipped with a touch-screen voting machine equipped with accessories needed to make them usable by those who are blind or have other disabilities. Meeting the purchase deadline is important because it qualifies the county for getting a reimbursement worth up to two-thirds of the purchase price -- if the funds are appropriated by Congress. The HAVA legislation also requires that the polling places themselves be accessible by those with handicaps. That requirement will likely eliminate many traditional voting places. A report released by the state after last year's General Election found that only 14 of 171 polling places surveyed met HAVA standards. The federal legislation initially called for the new voting machines to be on hand by Jan. 1. The requirement is now being interpreted to mean that the machines must be on order by then, and in place in time for the May primary election. So many of the Automark machines are on back order, however, that the commissioners may have to keep their fingers crossed in hope that the machines arrive on schedule. The Automark was selected over the less-expensive iVotronic voting machine because the former produces a paper ballot while the latter does not produce any kind of paper trail. Both machines are made by ES&S, the Omaha, Neb., company that supplied the M-100 optical scan voting machines now in use here. Most voters are expected to continue using the optical scan machines, which are speedier to operate. Ross estimated, based on an earlier demonstration, that voting on the Automarks will take 8 to 15 minutes. General use of the Automarks by voters would create long lines at the polls, he said. The commissioners agreed to order 190 of the Automark machines, which cost $5,400 per unit. The order will permit at least one Automark at every polling place, plus spares in case of breakdowns. The commissioners also expressed interest in developing an in-house capability for maintaining the machines in order to avoid hefty service fees. An ES&S spokesman told the commissioners on Thursday that the company charges a maintenance fee of $325 per unit/per year for the machines. Staff writer James Wensits: jwensits@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6353